Water in blige

[MadDogMike]

I'm curious how much water in your bilge is normal after a day on the lake. I estimate that I had a couple of liters today. (Although I may not have drained it all out from my previous outing.)

My friend thinks that's a lot, but his boat is an I/O. I know a wakeboard has more through-hull fittings due to the ballast system, but I don't see any obvious leaks there. Maybe it's leaking where the driveshaft goes through the hull? What's the most common culprit for letting water into the boat? (Or is this amount of water normal and I shouldn't fret?)

thanks,

Mike

[georgia_dawgs08]

I'm curious how much water in your bilge is normal after a day on the lake. I estimate that I had a couple of liters today. (Although I may not have drained it all out from my previous outing.)

My friend thinks that's a lot, but his boat is an I/O. I know a wakeboard has more through-hull fittings due to the ballast system, but I don't see any obvious leaks there. Maybe it's leaking where the driveshaft goes through the hull? What's the most common culprit for letting water into the boat? (Or is this amount of water normal and I shouldn't fret?)

thanks,

Mike

I usually have more than that, but I do believe it comes from where the drive shaft goes through the hull.

[woody]

When I look in my bilge in the center of the boat there is about 4inches of water. I should probably tighten up the packing nut a wee bit.

Main thing to check is the packing nut on the driveshaft. Make sure you don't have a steady stream running down from it (a drip about every second or two is good). Someone on here will the exact drip limit.

If you have a shower or heater, check your connections to make sure they a snug and dry.

After people climb in the boat from the water, do they stand on the swim step to let the water drip off of them, or do they climb directly in the boat and towel off? Do you have a dog with you that likes to swim?

Check all you ballast pumps and tank fittings, make sure they are snug.

Just remember, all that water in bilge just cleans out all the funkie stuff.

[Shine]

Everyone drip dries on the platform but after a day of play there is definitely more than 4 liters in the bildge but that is not nearly enough to trip the float on the bildge. I have normal drip rates at my rudder and shaft.

Edited May 1, 2009 by Shine

[electricjohn]

There is a manual override button for the bilge pump. It will get the water down to less than an inch. Most of my water comes from people. No one drips off on the platform and towels are rarely in the boat.

[mattm]

I'm curious how much water in your bilge is normal after a day on the lake. I estimate that I had a couple of liters today. (Although I may not have drained it all out from my previous outing.)

My friend thinks that's a lot, but his boat is an I/O. I know a wakeboard has more through-hull fittings due to the ballast system, but I don't see any obvious leaks there. Maybe it's leaking where the driveshaft goes through the hull? What's the most common culprit for letting water into the boat? (Or is this amount of water normal and I shouldn't fret?)

thanks,

Mike

I'm on my second Malibu and they both stay pretty wet in the bilge. On my first ('04 Sunsetter) I tried everything. I removed and re-installed the through hulls, caulked the tracking fins and tightened the stuffing box. My current boat is a '08 Sunscape and has kept a wet bilge since day one. I think one problem may be the stuffing box drying out between uses. I've noticed my stuffing box leaks faster when I first put the boat in the water than at the end of the day.

[Bill_AirJunky]

Whats a liter?

I'm not sure how much water is in the bilge. But I leave it on the lake for weeks or months at a time & there is always a couple inches of water in it by the driver (the lowest point on the boat). I don't see it by the engine or trans unless I'm going a couple MPH.

[Nicvtx]

i got my vtx in november last year and havent had any water in the bilge at all

its a very dry boat

[Ache For Wake]

Whats a liter?

I'll take a "Liter-a-cola!!"

[bigD]

Packing nut, ice chest drain to bilge, wet people in and out of boat, placement of bilge pump, bilge coming on too late or not at all.

I probably have close to a gallon or a little more then 3 litters drain out the center plug after we load up at the end of the day. And I get more out by the front ballast with a shop vac at home.

Edited May 5, 2009 by bigD

[areamike]

Could be the dreaded HDS. Have you hit anything with your boat before? i.e. log, rocks, people?

http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index....1907&hl=HDS

What you could do. Next time you have the boat out of the water. Take a hose and put water in the bilge with all plugs in. Then start looking around the outside/under boat for any leaks.

[Molarbu]

My biggest source of water is the shower. It leaks when under way unless the shower head is disconnected from the hose.

[mparcel]

We found that on our vRide even if the shower was turned off that we had to make sure that the on/off knob on the head itself was turned off - had water in the boat for half the summer last year because I wasn't bright enough to figure that out. We also get allot of water from the cooler (seems like that little plug always gets knocked out). In any case I wouldn't worry to much about 4 liters - I am sure I have close to that most days out and it isn't even enough to turn the bilge on.

[woody]

We found that on our vRide even if the shower was turned off that we had to make sure that the on/off knob on the head itself was turned off - had water in the boat for half the summer last year because I wasn't bright enough to figure that out. We also get allot of water from the cooler (seems like that little plug always gets knocked out). In any case I wouldn't worry to much about 4 liters - I am sure I have close to that most days out and it isn't even enough to turn the bilge on.

Just an extra note....

After you turn off the pump open and close the shower head to relieve the extra head pressure from the shower. That will reduce some water leaking in.

The onboard cooler is a piece of %(^*$*&^O)&%H) I ripped my out, my a homemade custom fit one, ripped that out, and then bought a polarbear. They are the best soft sided coolers on the market.

[aaudii5150]

This still take some getting used to for me! I've always had I/O and checked for water in the boat....

[Rivercrew]

Packing nut, ice chest drain to bilge, wet people in and out of boat, placement of bilge pump, bilge coming on too late or not at all.

I probably have close to a gallon or a little more then 3 litters drain out the center plug after we load up at the end of the day. And I get more out by the front ballast with a shop vac at home.

I have a 98 sportster that I kept getting water in and I found the the bottom of the boat where the dive shaft comes in is the noise supressor camber and there I found the two halfs had came apart and thats where my water was coming in at. I had to refiberglass the inside of that camber. Hope this helps you.